Her Heart

Tuesday, April 22, 2008, is a day that I won't soon forget.


I had my appointment and follow-up sono from last month. The reason I had to have a follow-up sono is because the technician had a hard time getting a good picture of Emma Kate's heart. (This same situation happened with Anna Brooke, so I was not alarmed.) However, this time, the tech, named Lee, kept checking and re-checking and said she couldn't see all 4 chambers. After about 20 minutes of having a tough time, she went to get the other tech, Abby, so that she could check out her heart. Abby was also unable to see Emma Kate's heart. I was still not too alarmed, I figured that Emma Kate was just in a difficult position. But the facial expressions on both Lee & Abby made me feel less secure. Then Lee said that I may need to see another doctor with more specialized equipment who could see the heart better. She said she would go get the doctor to have a look. At this point, I was starting to panic a little bit. Usually doctors don't come into the sono room, do they?! Could something possibly be wrong with my daughter's heart? Why else would the doctor come in to look?

While Lee was gone and Abby continued go over and over my belly with the wand in an attempt to get a good look, I started to tear up. I didn't want to say or ask anything for fear of hearing bad news. About 10 minutes later, the doctor, not my regular doctor, but still a doctor I trust, came in. He immediately came over to me and held my hand. I really started crying at that point because I thought, "why would he come comfort me if nothing was wrong?"


After that, the doctor basically said, "This is what we think is wrong: your daughter may have Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome." After that he said that they are all very talented doctors and sonographers, but they are not heart specialists. I am being referred to a specialist in Maternal/Fetal Medicine at UAB hospital. He went on to say this is not a common condition and that they have seen this one other time in 10 years.


Either way, I went home not knowing anything about HLHS. So immediately when I got home and told Brooks our news (he was not at the appointment with me) we did a lot of research online. I was glad to find a lot of information on this subject. If you are interested in knowing more, here is a link with some basic information. Of course, we did a lot of crying and praying that afternoon, still not really understanding what all this means.


Since we have found out this news, our hearts have been heavy, but we know that God is in control! That brings us so much comfort. We are overwhelmed with all of the prayers and support we are getting from others. Brooks even started a blog describing his thoughts on everything, and we've had lots of people let us know that they are praying for us and for Emma Kate. We are SO GRATEFUL! Thanks to everyone who is praying with us!

Please be praying for us this Wednesday, when we have our appointment at UAB hospital. Our appointment is 8 am CST. I will keep updating as we get news.